As soon as rumors spread about Erina’s first tea party, the Marquis of Papia moved quickly to secure a spot.

After staring intently at the tea party invitation, the Marquis of Papia pondered and then went to see Tanya.

The Marquis of Papia had restricted his daughter’s social activities after she behaved rudely towards Erina and sent an apology letter.

He excluded all social activities where she might meet the Asila Count’s daughter and interfered in her private life to prevent other thoughts.

Fearing that Tanya might make a mistake out of youthful impulse, the Marquis of Papia acted even more strictly.

Not understanding her father’s actions, Tanya protested by locking herself in her room and refusing to come out.

The Marquis of Papia knocked on his daughter’s door, holding the tea party invitation, and called out.

“Tanya.”

As expected, there was no response from Tanya.

But since the Marquis of Papia had already heard that his daughter was in the room, he knocked once more and entered.

“I’m coming in.”

Upon entering the room, the Marquis of Papia sighed at the sight of Tanya still protesting like a child, buried under the blankets.

“What on earth are you doing, a woman well past the age of finding a marriage partner?”

Tanya flinched under the covers at her father’s words but didn’t respond.

“There’s a tea party at the Medelia Count’s residence. I managed to get an invitation with difficulty. Get ready to go.”

When the Marquis of Papia got straight to the point, the sulking Tanya was taken aback.

Knowing full well why she was acting this way, Tanya couldn’t bear her father’s arbitrary actions.

“How, how could you do this to me, Father!”

Tanya threw off the blankets and stood in front of the Marquis of Papia.

Seeing his daughter’s face looking much better than before, despite supposedly being locked up in protest, the Marquis of Papia rubbed his forehead.

“Go to the tea party in person, apologize to the Count, and try to get along.”

“Father, that wicked woman did to me…!”

“Get a hold of yourself, Tanya Papia!”

Tanya clamped her mouth shut at the sight of her father raising his voice again.

She doubted if this was the same father who had loved her so unconditionally.

Her father had changed overnight because of that one woman.

Far from feeling sorry, Tanya grew even more hateful and angry.

“If you want to keep the name Papia, behave properly, Tanya.”

The Marquis of Papia held out the invitation with its antique gold ribbon to Tanya.

Tanya glared at the invitation for a while before turning her gaze to her father.

His crimson eyes, identical to her own, looked so firm that it seemed his opinion would never waver.

“I’ll just go there.”

Tanya bluntly stated that she would go but wouldn’t apologize, out of her twisted feelings.

The Marquis of Papia considered it fortunate enough that she would attend.

According to subtle rumors, the most noteworthy figures, Rose and Count Peiron Iolls, had been having secret meetings.

If that was true, Rose might be the brazen mistress who had entered the mansion when the Medelia Count was still married to the Countess Iolls.

Words were sure to be exchanged at the tea party.

Looking at the guest list, two individuals who couldn’t resist gossip were included.

The Marquis of Papia had a feeling that Erina would mention some definite facts at the tea party.

If Tanya attended the tea party and confirmed that it was Rose, not Erina, who was full of lies, her feelings might change a little.

The Marquis of Papia briefly looked at his obtuse daughter before turning away.

He only hoped that his daughter would quickly break free from the misconception Rose had deliberately created.

Whether Tanya knew her father’s thoughts or not, she stood there, busy glaring at the invitation in her hand.

Oblivious to her gloomy mood, the invitation in her hand just kept sparkling.

“Damn it, why won’t she respond?”

The first thing Tanya did when she was half-willingly, half-forcibly confined to her room was to send a letter to Rose.

She sent dozens of letters asking for contact, but there was no reply.

It would have been nice if Rose had given a clear answer like during the auction, but there was no response until the end.

Tanya wouldn’t know, but the Marquis of Papia had been managing everything that passed through Tanya’s hands, and all her letters were handled by the Marquis.

Thanks to this, no one knew that a tiny seed of distrust had begun to grow in Tanya’s heart.

Tanya was just pondering how to cut the sparkling gold ribbon on the invitation.

[This is the timeline separator]

Contrary to what the nobles had expected, only 15 people were invited to the Medelia Count’s tea party.

When the day arrived, full of anticipation for those invited, the Medelia mansion was busy without a moment to breathe.

They overturned and reorganized the strange garden that Romdrik and Camille had decorated, planting modestly and beautifully blooming flowers instead of excessive ones.

With the good weather, the garden seemed better than the dining room, so many had to participate in the preparations.

It was decorated with delphiniums and lilacs in light purple, the color representing magic stones, with gold ribbons for accent.

The round table for the tea party was covered with a snow-white tablecloth, and name cards were placed at each seat along with lush purple hydrangeas.

As the tea party time approached, carriages of nobles began to arrive at the Medelia mansion one by one.

Erina went out to the entrance of the mansion to greet them accordingly.

At Heila’s request, Erina was dressed glamorously enough to look like the main character.

The ivory mermaid dress that accentuated Erina’s figure was low-cut enough to show a glimpse of her collarbone and cleavage, with sheer fabric covering her arms to the wrists.

The dress, tight to the hips, had a pearl-patterned design on the flowing fabric from the thighs down.

Her purple hair was braided largely and decorated with pearls, and she wore the magic stone-engraved jewelry set gifted by Sandes, making her look even more splendid.

Heila, alone behind her, clapped like a seal and wiped away tears at Erina’s beautiful appearance.

As Erina stepped out to the mansion entrance, someone who had arrived earlier spotted her and approached excitedly like a child.

“Countess Medelia!”

Erina greeted the elderly noblewoman warmly.

“Lady Rordy Ratsha. Thank you sincerely for attending this humble tea party.”

Rordy Ratsha was the birth mother of the current empress of the Asilium Empire and a collateral royal of the Kingdom of Sepia.

The bright lemon-colored hair among her graying strands reminded one of the empress, and her soft brown eyes clearly showed her kind personality.

“I’m truly grateful that you allowed this old woman to receive a tea party invitation, Countess.”

“Of course I had to send one to you, Viscountess.”

Rordy took a step closer to Medelia, her eyes crinkling prettily as she expressed her gratitude to Erina.

“Really, thank you so much, Countess.”

Erina smiled, unsure how to respond to Rordy’s excessive gratitude for being invited.

But she soon realized that her gratitude was not simply for being invited, as Rordy continued.

“Thanks to the Countess releasing the magic stones, we were able to use the Ratsha family heirloom, allowing my second son, the heir to the viscounty, to regain his health.”

“I’m glad to hear that, my lady.”

Erina had indeed heard among the information Terik provided that the empress’s brother and heir to the Ratsha viscounty, who had been practically terminal, had regained his health.

In fact, she had only vaguely understood that he had regained his health, but it seemed he had become healthy by using an artifact.

“I really wanted to meet you and express my gratitude.”

Knowing that Rordy wanted to show her overwhelming feelings, Erina simply smiled gently without adding more words.

Rordy, appreciating Erina’s kind consideration, smiled prettily and handed her a yellow pouch.

“Countess, please accept this.”

As it was customary to give a gift of gratitude when invited to a tea party, Erina carefully accepted it with words of thanks.

“You seem to need this, Countess, being exposed to various dangers.”

It was no exaggeration to say that more than half of the medicinal herbs used in the Pechenia continent came from Rordy’s home country, the Kingdom of Sepia.

Of course, Trumto also had many precious herbs, but the Kingdom of Sepia had countless mountains full of herbs, considered a blessing.

Whether it was poisonous herbs or not, the Kingdom of Sepia was a step above Trumto.

“Could it be.”

Realizing that Rordy was a royal of the Kingdom of Sepia, albeit collateral, Erina opened the yellow pouch.

Inside the pouch was a single round pill of a translucent color.

“This is the ultimate antidote given to each person bearing the name of Sepia royalty, even if collateral. It’s called the ultimate antidote because there has never been a poison it couldn’t neutralize since the Kingdom of Sepia has existed.”

“My lady, how can you give me such a precious thing?”

A startled Erina hurriedly closed the pouch and held it out to Rordy.

But Rordy firmly refused to take the pouch back and pressed it into Erina’s hand.

“I know that the Small Kingdom Alliance is trying to make a move against you, Countess. I already have nothing more to wish for, so this should go to someone who needs it more.”

“Viscountess.”

This antidote, given only to royalty in the Kingdom of Sepia, couldn’t be obtained no matter how much money one had.

Now that the attempt to prevent Rose from approaching Bellodi had failed, the pouch in her hand was as precious as a spare life, in a way.

Erina grasped Rordy’s hands and once again expressed her gratitude.

“Thank you sincerely, Viscountess Ratsha. I will keep it safe and not use it carelessly.”

Pleased by Erina’s sincere thanks, Rordy gently patted Erina’s hands holding her own.